All in Faith and Family
I’m not sure my mother-in-law knew what she was starting, but her Christmas Eve fondue tradition has done exactly what a holiday tradition should do! Good traditions should bind your family together so that you can celebrate the true meaning of the holiday.
We must lay aside our pride, acknowledge our hurt and let our spouse know when our feelings have been injured. I can’t stress how important the act of humbling yourself is to the health of your marriage! This will take a soul-bearing conversation where you may have to admit to your spouse that you are not as secure as you’d like to think you are or that you portray. It will require you to be vulnerable.
God knew that inside each man and woman there would live a struggle. This struggle would revolve around issues inside a man’s heart and in a women’s mind. God knew men would have little difficulty loving themselves and that women would desire to rule over their husband. I do not for a minute believe that either struggle was shocking to God. He created Adam and Eve and fellowshipped with them as they lived in the Garden of Eden.
Love starts with a perfect, well-timed kiss, but is sustained through purposefully loving your spouse!
Marriage is like a football game- if you don’t believe me, keep reading!
Now, I love a spontaneous adventure as much as the next girl, but I don't want the entirety of my life to be such. Jody and I do and have discussed the plans for almost everything. Early on, we discussed what concepts did we wanted our children to embrace during their childhood and what holiday traditions did we want to incorporate into our family in order to bring a sense of family unity and a dependence on God. Later, we discussed what joint physical fitness goals we wanted and what financial security goals we believed we needed, and we discussed how each would contribute to meet this accomplishment.
We are seldom content. Given the myriad of home improvement shows on TV, we all desire the perfect home, complete with the latest flooring, perfect shade of gray paint and stone counter tops. And don't get me started on Facebook. It lets us peek into the best moments of our friend's lives, and forces us to compare these with the undesirable parts of our own. These cravings, and our lack of contentment, are not invisible to those around us. People in your life know what you crave by your speech, by how you spend your time and money, and by what deeply moves your heart. Your spouse knows the true desires of your heart. So do your children and friends.
Last Friday I turned 20,000 days old. I know, wow, huh? Yes, that is a lot of days! And yes, I loved every one. I calculated this momentous occasion three years ago when it dawned on me that I was getting close. I was also disappointed that I had missed the 10,000th anniversary of my days here on earth. So I put the date (July 28, 2017) in my iPhone and set a reminder, so that I wouldn't forget to acknowledge the milestone and CELEBRATE it accordingly! It reminded me at precisely 9:00 am, one week before, just as I had planned. So for one week, I pondered the huge number and the state of my life.
Nowhere is the state of your relationship with God, and the condition of your heart, more apparent than in your marriage. My sins affect Jody. His sins affect me. So in keeping with the heart doctor analogy from my story, the thing that best detects the condition of your spiritual well-being is your marriage. It is the proverbial stress test!
Listening to every word in directions is very important when building something. I know this from experience. The latest reminder occurred about three weeks ago. Jody and I took a week off from work to build a bar on our pool deck.
Our vows to God are what makes a marriage stick together during hard times.
The spirit led walk is implied in John 10:27, and it is one of my favorite verses - “My sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me.” So let's break down the three steps Jesus described in this verse. Hear. Know. Follow.
Even on our morning walks, I will see weeds in our neighbor’s yards and will want to stop and pick them – so, it’s not just the grass, I guess I am a weed freak, that sounds weird, but I trust you understand.
Is it OK to desire to be cool?
From a biblical prospective there is no encouragement to be cool. The Bible is clearly a book written for all time, it is the inspired word of God. It is like the perfect little black dress- timeless. We are never encouraged to be hip or part of the in crowd. Instead we realize while reading the word that Jesus was not a fad -"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." (Hebrews 13:8) And simply put, that is my answer. My pursuit of cool is outside my pursuit of God.
I am a college football fan and more importantly an LSU fan. If you know me, you already know this about me. It is an oddity, I’m sure. But I love football. I love the game, the strategy, the play calling, the God given talent on display in those young athletes on the field and those purple and gold tigers! If I had been born a bit more coordinated, muscular or male, I’d have played football- quarterback for sure!
Right before Sylvester Stalone starts landing blows on his opponent in each of the famous Rocky movies, a referee reminds him of the rules. The two menacing boxers stand toe to toe- drenched in sweat, boxing gloves on. The referee pulls down a microphone from the sky and starts explaining the rules. “We want a good clean fight, no sucker punches or blows below the waist, touch gloves, and when I say go to your corner, go there and stay there, and don’t come out until you hear the bell. May the best fighter win!” I have often thought that this referee would make a great wedding officiant. He could wed people and start them off on the right foot on how to fight fairly.
